Co-Lab Institutes:
A Step Towards Solidarity

Why Traditional Collaboration Won’t Work

In today’s divided world we find endless, unresolved conflicts.

• We are classified to create our identity
• We are divided to maintain our difference

When we attempt to share thoughts and ideas, most everybody stands in line waiting for their turn to talk. Nobody listens. There is rarely a true common objective to solve or resolve a problem. The underlying intent by people is to “be right.”

To solve this problem, we have gone from arbitration to collaboration with very little success. We find, there is now a continuous struggle to even define the real problem.

There are many reasons why collaborative efforts fail, but the bottom line consensus predominantly circles around to a few distinct facts.

• Collaboration often quickly becomes a battle of ego and personality
• When you are teaching (training) you are often not reaching your audience because they are not engaged; they are not part of the process nor an influencer of the conclusion
• The very nature of today’s approach to collaboration often results in disempowerment of the participants

 To understand this let’s examine the facts about people and our culture.

People and Culture

The nature of the human experience:

• People are social creatures
• Safety in numbers is at the root of our survival beliefs
• Solitary confinement is a painful form of punishment because it magnifies individual powerlessness and helplessness
• Social rejection is at the root of most of our deep-seated fears because it magnifies our individual helplessness and powerlessness
  • Speaking in public
  • Writing a book
  • Sharing a thought
  • Voicing an opinion

We have been trained to separate:

• Authority (making the decision of what to do)
• Responsibility (acting on the decision and doing the work)
• Accountability (taking credit for the decision in the form of reward or punishment)

This separation is the basis for developing organization and government control of the people.

Personal and cultural growth is achieved by:

• The process of enlightenment: thoughts and ideas turn into decisions, actions and learning from the results
• The process of empowerment: experiencing enlightenment, collectively being recognized for personal contribution and experiencing the phenomena of the idiom: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

The process of being human is to experience: the process of enlightenment AND the process of empowerment:

• Seeing all choices
• Making a decision (self and shared authority)
• Testing the decision (is it the right decision?) through assessment and courage
• Letting go of old beliefs that are no longer appropriate
• Experiencing self-trust in making decisions based on clarity and conviction
• Accepting others as they are (not coming to conclusions before investigation)
• Discovering others from a place of honesty (the whole truth) to experience:
  • Selflessness to see the opportunities around us
  • Clarity in our intentions to build a foundation for being trusted
  • Life in a reality-based world rooted in:
• Attention – see the whole truth
• Respect – not coming to conclusions without all the facts
• Appreciation – finding both direct value and intrinsic value in all things

A Predictable Pathway

When we DON’T experience enlightenment and empowerment we feel fear and become dependent on things outside ourselves for the fulfillment of our 5 Basic Needs:

• Survival
• Freedom
• Useful
• Love
• Identity

It is important to note that the loss of the ability to integrate Self-Authority, Self-Responsibility and Self-Accountability into our lives results in a loss of individual and personal identity…the last of our five needs.

When we lose our identity, what we do becomes who we are.  When this occurs there is an absolute desperation to maintain who we are (the false self).  Even if we cannot make our own decisions, if we get rewarded for what we do, we feel affirmed in our false sense of self.

When what we do becomes who we are, people become indecisive and fearful of making decisions outside of their sphere of influence or assigned authority – for fear of failure, and more often fear of judgement, by their inner circle.  Thus, people become isolated, yet influenced.

When what we do becomes who we are, we do things to get likes and rewards – the “Pavlov Effect” known today as social media.

A Community of Collaboration

When we experience enlightenment and empowerment we feel trust and become interdependent with those around us.  We are able to focus on ourselves and create an environment of solidarity.  The environment of solidarity results in a heightened level of personal creativity and contribution to the collective betterment of all stakeholders.

This environment is found in a Collaboration Laboratory, commonly known as a Co-Lab Institute.  Co-Lab Institutes remove the predefined lines of authority and allows people to express their thoughts, without it being tied to their identity. 

In so doing Co-Lab Institutes provide the structure for people to focus on a common object and thus, express ideas without fear of rejection of others; or having to alter ideas based on other people’s acceptance or approval.

Uniting People – Building Strategic Alliances

“When you solve the same problem over and over
and get the same results,
you are solving the wrong problem.”

The AwareComm^® Platform + Process Works

• We define a problem
• We develop a complete answer
• We implement practical sticky solutions

By blending
Cloud Technology
Proven Learning Methodology
Social Understanding
Measuring and Reporting Results with
Data Science and Data Analytics

A Vision for Hawaii

Problems Find Solutions and Each Community Participant Benefits 

Co-Lab Institutes bring together the collective power of communities in a way that everybody benefits from achieving the common goal.  Participants may have different needs and reasons for wanting the problem solved, yet resolution brings individual and collective rewards for all.

In the diagram above we see the community gathering around a Co-Lab Institute dedicated to Rebuilding Community Cultures of Hawaii.  All stakeholders have the goal of enhancing and improving the social cultural responsibility of individuals and communities on the island.  Each stakeholder brings a key contribution of “HOW” to solve the problem.

Out of the process each stakeholder supports the collective mission and vision and by proxy may receive the following benefits:

• Elders focus on sharing their wisdom – gain a sense of usefulness, value and income
• NASA Mars Project focuses on attracting interest– gains community support and acceptance
• Veterans / Homeless focus on purpose and dignity – find stability in life
• Businesses focus on job training – gain a mature, team-focused and creative workforce
• Charter Schools focus on education – gain resources to more effectively teach
• Collaborative Learning Platforms focus on effective communication – become sustainable
• Drug/Alcohol Recovery focus on all 5 elements of sobriety – provide true recovery for all
• Unmanned Aircraft Industry focuses on attracting interest – gains local / global support and credibility

I M A G I N E the Possibilities for Your
Community, Industry, Business, Organization or School

It All Starts with YOU!

The Power to Make It Happen

We Make a Difference Because We Are Different

Microsoft Certified Store Apps

Empowering the World with
Cloud Technology – Proven Learning Methodology – Social Understanding

Download Your FREE Certified Personal Copy of “App-ortunities”
 From The Microsoft Store
See For Yourself!

How Do You Develop Your Own Private Branded Co-Lab Institute?

Make your dream big enough for everybody… and prove it before you do it!

• Apply for an App-ortunity Mentor to advise and guide you through “Proof of Concept” – FREE
• Write an initial blog describing a challenge and your solution concept – FREE
• Invite others to read it and comment and share their ideas – FREE
• Create a book with stories and invite others to read it – FREE
• Establish a group of people for your Co-Lab team – FREE
• Develop a business plan with your intentions – FREE
• Find a sponsor or co-sponsor with your team – FREE
• Partner with AwareComm^® to spin up a Co-Lab

 

Additional Tools to Make Your Dreams a Reality:
Philosophy ~ Resources ~ Objectives

---

 

---

 

---

---

---

---

---

---

---